Hindi
Chinese film 11 Flowers to open Third Eye fest
MUMBAI: The 10th edition of the Third Eye Film Festival will open with the screening of the Chinese film 11 Flowers directed by Xioshuai Wang at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Mumbai on 22 December.
While Iranian director Asghar Farahadi‘s A Sepration will be the centre piece of the festival, Ketan Mehta‘s yet unreleased film, Rang Rasiya will be the closing film.
This year‘s festival is to be dedicated to the fond memories of star-filmmaker Dev Anand. As a tribute to him, his memorable film Guide will be screened during the festival.
The festival will commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. As a part of the commemoration, a film each of the FTII‘s six alumni, who have made India proud by their respective work, will be screened. The six celebrated alumni are Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli, Vikas Desai, Jahnu Barua, Ketan Mehta and Shaji Karun.
The festival will also commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore by screening seven Bengali films made on his published stories by Satyajit Ray (Charulata and Teen Kanya), Tapan Sinha (Kabuliwala, Kshudito Pashan and Atithi) and Rituparno Ghosh (Choker Bali and Nauka Dubi).
On the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary this year, the Festival will pay homage to Ashok Kumar. On the occasion, BR Chopra‘s Gumrah, rated as one of his best starrers will be screened.
Organised by Asian Film Foundation in collaboration with PL Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy and supported by the state government of Maharashtra, the Festival will showcase 84 select feature films and 45 short fiction films from filmmaking countries across the Asian continent.
All the films will be screened at the two theatres in the Ravindra Natya Mandir complex from 10 am to 8.30 pm.
Hindi
Jio Studios, Sanjay Dutt team up to revive Khal Nayak
Rights acquired for new version, format under wraps as remake plans take shape.
MUMBAI: The villain is back and this time, he’s rewriting his own script. Jio Studios has partnered with Three Dimension Motion Pictures and Aspect Entertainment to revive the 1993 cult classic Khal Nayak, marking a fresh chapter for one of Bollywood’s most iconic anti-hero stories. The original film, directed by Subhash Ghai under Mukta Arts, was a commercial and cultural milestone, with Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of Ballu becoming one of Hindi cinema’s most memorable performances.
Dutt, along with Aksha Kamboj, has now acquired the rights from the original creators, bringing on board Jio Studios and its President Jyoti Deshpande to steer the project creatively.
While the exact format whether remake, sequel, prequel, or a completely new narrative remains undisclosed, the collaboration aims to reinterpret the story for contemporary audiences while retaining the essence that made the original a defining film of the 1990s.
The move taps into a broader industry trend of reviving legacy intellectual property, particularly characters with strong recall value. “Khal Nayak” was notable for pushing mainstream Hindi cinema into morally grey territory at a time when heroes were largely one-dimensional, making Ballu’s character a standout.
The project also marks the film production debut of Aspect Entertainment, signalling a push towards more technology-led storytelling frameworks. Meanwhile, Jio Studios continues to expand its slate, having built a library of over 200 films and series, with more than 60 titles collectively winning 500-plus awards.
For Dutt, the revival is as much personal as it is strategic, a return to a role that reshaped his career. For the industry, it is another sign that nostalgia, when paired with scale, remains a powerful box-office proposition.
Because in Bollywood, some villains never fade, they just wait for the perfect comeback.
